Roger gets through. I still don't see what the hype is for Tomic. Like the announcers said - he plays defensive tennis - but he's slow - and that is NOT a great combination. Anyway - glad that Roger, Serena, and Venus got through today. It has been a great tournament for me so far.

Stan is playing right now.

I also think Roger may have a little trouble with Fish tomorrow - but I hope he can come through. Go Roger!!!!

The Fish - Stepanek was a good one and much closer than the score 6-3,6-3 indicates. The first set proceeded on serve until about 4 -3 when Fish got the break. The second set was also close. Good to see Mardy Fish playing well again. Now he has to face Federer. He took a set off Fed in the final two years ago. I thought the difference between the two came mostly from net play.

Then I decided to forage for food and looked in on Del Potro - Troicki. I was surprised that Troicki was doing so well, even though he folded in the third set. All is explained in previous postings made by others today.

I finally got back to Serena's second set. Unlike most of the other ladies, she is still capable of really wacking the tennis ball. Fun to watch but I would not like to get to close .

I thought Federer's match against Tomic was much more interesting that last night's performance. Despite William's remark

Tomic's serve is still mystery for me. Is he going to get bigger serve?

I thought that Tomic was serving very well. Maybe not a monster serve, but powerful and accurate. If it had been impeccably consistent, he might have had a chance. It was better than Federer's but Tomic came nowhere near competing once the ball got into play. As the lady next to me said, "Federer must have been a ballet dancer in his previous incarnation". It was wonderful to watch. In short, I thought Tomic did very well considering and that he has a bright future if he can keep this up. The crowd was very pro-Federer. My own feeble attempt at flag-flying sounded more like one-hand clapping .

It's been a good tournament so far. I've enjoyed the peripheral facilities. When the chap serving at the bar says " You were here last year, weren't you? " you know that you have become part of the landscape .

I'm watching Wawrinka / Nishikori - SW up a set 6-3. I last saw these two live at the Olympics in their doubles match when Federer/Wawrinka won. Nishikori played with Go Soeda & they playeda good match. Anyway, I digress. KN would need to do something radical like win the second set, and I'm not sure he is up to it. SW up a break in the second set & in control.

Dallas - I couldn't watch the Federer / Tomic match. Seems to have been a straightforward affair. I agree that Fish could more of a challenge.

Chardy is obviously enjoying himself in this tournament! Roddick, Istimin & now Murray in straights. Not a bad result to date from a "lucky loser" entrant. If anyone saw his match today, I'd be interested to know more about how he managed to outplay Murray. I'm sure AM would have prefered to defend his title, but doubt that he will lose sleep over this loss, regardless of the rankings.

Del Potro made short work of Troicki in the end & perhaps his injury was a niggle rather than a flare-up. I hope so. He plats Chardy next.

But he practically has NO hard court preparation for the US... And soooooo many people are predicting him to win the Open (more pressure on someone who has never won one). We will see. Maybe this lost didn't hurt him - but he sure lost a bunch of points. Two hard court tournaments since the Olympics....and not going past the 3rd round in ether! Interesting. But Sid knows Murray better than we do.

I'm happy Murray lost today,when he get's beat 99% he does better the next one,we all know what that is.

I don't know Sid. I was pretty disappointed with Murray today, although I have to admit that Chardy played a great match. Missed the Roger/Tomic match but I guess didn't miss anything there . wondering if a good old Kolya can trouble Nole. guys, call me stupid, but I find the Cincy web site so usless. I can't even figure out the order of play. It must be just me

Nole 6:0 first set. it looks like Davydenko is trowing this match away. kinda embarrassing for the crowd. again, nothing special from Djokovic, he just does his usual stuff. Kolya just can't serve. I can't even remember how many DF he had. just awful.

great, Davidenko just retired with an unknown sort of injury . I waited for this mess all day long. meh

I took the night off and don't think I missed much. The thunder is just starting. They say the storm will be over tomorrow. Took advantage of the respite from tennis to finish a book a friend gave me Free Will by Sam Harris. It was a good read.

Tomorrow should be good. Already it looks to me like a Djokovic vs Fed final. I hope Nole does not retire after the first set again like he did last year.